Internet Usage by Young Kids in India

Kids & Internet

Abstract

India is one of the country with the highest number of kids under the age of 18 years. This paper adds value in understanding the usage in the current covid scenario. The research objectives for the current study are to examine how young kids in India distribute their time across traditional and internet; to examine how kids’s media choices vary by activity; to study how often young kids use the internet for varied purposes, to study how young kids find the websites that are of interest to them and to examine how young kids obtain information about sensitive issues. A cross-sectional web survey was conducted to examine the various aspects of the use of the Internet and traditional media (television/radio/magazines/newspapers/billboards) among kids in India. A structured questionnaire was administered on a purposive sample of 522 kids. Internet emerged as the first choice of media for kids for all the nine selected activities that include homework, shopping, restaurant/food-ordering, travel and tour, information search, health related information, weather forecast, entertainment, and news/current events. Girl respondents as compared to male respondents have used the Internet more frequently for learning about the fashion (trends) and health related issues.